Sorry, this movie sucks

Highly Overrated But Still Good

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

All The Marbles turned out to be Robert Aldrich's last directed film and while it's not the greatest film he ever directed for those who are fans of Peter Falk it's a must. In this one Falk plays the manager of a female tag team champion wrestlers the California Dolls played here by Vicki Frederick and Laurenne Landon. They do a lot of tank town shows and even accept a mud wrestling gig at one point all to get that championship match with the Toledo Tigers. They faced each other twice before and split the outcomes. The finale is a championship match in more ways than one. It's for All The Marbles.Falk really is working on all cylinders with a gamut of emtions that run from basso profundo to coloratura soprano. Just sit back and enjoy.The film also has Burt Young playing a shady promoter and Lenny Montana as his bodyguard. Young truly needs a bodyguard with all the shady stuff he pulls and he got one of the best. Lenny Montana is best known for being Luca Brasi in The Godfather and Young needs his services more than Don Corleone did.In fact you can almost forget that wrestling is an exhibition watching this film. The matches are just like what you see from WWE. Vince McMahon should be proud.

"All The Marbles" was director Robert Aldrich's final movie, and it's kind of an odd chapter in Aldrich's career (though it's likely he was planning to make more movies between this one and when he died.) It's a pretty grungy experience, for one thing. Quite often it depicts the lives of female wrestlers as having a lifestyle that few people would envy - risking injury, sleazy motel rooms, etc. But the movie does remain pretty interesting for most of its almost two hour running time. The three central characters are pretty interesting, not without flaws, but people you will root for and hope will find happiness and the fame they deserve. My only real complaint with the movie is that the final wrestling match goes on for far too long; it could have been significantly cut down. But other than that, this movie is well worth a look.(P.S. - While the movie got an "R" rating from the MPAA back in 1981, by today's standards the movie doesn't deserve more than a "PG-13" rating.)

I saw this movie in Chennai(then Madras),India way back in the early eighties while in college.I remember the movie vividly for its vibrant wrestling action and its handsome women.Peter Falk I remember at his leering best and it still remains one of my favourite movies though I've never managed to lay my hands on a DVD as yet ! I remember it running to a packed house for many weeks at a theatre called LEO which being close to our college used to be filled with a raucous crowd of chanting guys who just loved the movie.I guess we must have seen the movie no less than 5 times! It would be great to get a copy of California DOLLS(it was'nt called ALL THE MARBLES when it was released here)for old times sake. Laura really was a looker and we just loved her!

This is overall an entertaining movie,but I have to admit...the real interest here for me is watching 2 very sexy women wrestling. I've always enjoyed catfighting,and this is one of the few mainstream movies that has that in it. I would someday like to see a racier version of this movie,but i know I'm probably just dreaming. Its been awhile since I've seen this,but i believe there was also a jello wrestling scene in it. One thing I had a little trouble believing was that the lead dark haired wrestler was sleeping with the Peter Falk character...ewwww....highly doubtful. I recommend watching this movie to see if you like it.